Hi !
I have a nvidia TNT2 card with 32 MB RAM.It says 32 MB during startup (boot).I have installed the latest drivers but in Windows (XP sp1) the display properties show 16MB RAM.Does this mean my system uses only 16MB ? Or is some setting wrong where only 16MB is being used ? Or should I just ignore it and accept that there is 32 MB and all 32 are being used ?

I checked Direct X it says 16 MB just like the properties panel.But during boot the screen clearly says 32 MB.So how do i know what the memory actually is ? I couldn't find any mention of the memory on the card itself.I've paid for a 32 MB card and I wouldn't like to be gypped.
PS The properties say the card type as AGP 2x.Can this be the cause of the discrepancy ? If yes then is it 16 MB or 32 MB ?

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IF DirectX says your card has 16mb of memory, then that's waht you have. The only memory displayed during POST (boot up) that I'm aware of is the amount of system RAM you have installed. That is separate from the video card memory. Hard to believe you are running on only 32mb of system RAM.

What are your system specs. I again recommend you get AIDA32. it will give you all that info.

Hi DaveBurnett... It probably depends on what BIOS one has. I've booted a lot of different systems and have never seen video RAM displayed during POST. My Phoeniz BIOS displays system RAM only during POST. The only way I can ascertain how much video RAM is available is looking for it by other means (like dxdiag or AIDA32)

I read the guru3d article.Does explain quite a bit except I'm using the Microsoft XP drivers (I haven't installed the nvidia drivers because they're just too big- the XP drivers recognise the card and work well).I ran a search for the exe file and it wasn't there.But my problem is reversed - the BIOS shows more RAM while Windows shows less.
About the video ram it does show just before the "main" BIOS screen.It just flashes by when the monitor starts up..

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As it says in the article, the amount of memory shown on the boot up is taken from the Video BIOS string and is just text. It can be edited to say anything. It is NOT a measure. In this case the string says 32Mb. The real memory is 16Mb and this is what Windows is seeing and reporting. Should you have used the drivers supplied with the card, they would have installed RSCMPT.EXE and that would have emulated a further 16Mb giving 32Mb, but would cripple you processor in doing so. The Nvidia drivers do not install this extra program. It is also worth while pointing out that the Nvidia folder created when installing the drivers is effectively only a temporary folder and can be deleted once the installation is complete.